Page 75 - Grand Exit

Author Notes:

I don't know how many of you spend a lot of time on Reddit (I don't), but it seems there's a subreddit specifically for pony fans who play tabletop RPGs: /r/ponyRPG. It's pretty small, but it exists.

I gotta say: When I started this comic, I had no idea there was such an overlap for pony roleplay. Yeah, the fandom's big enough that it overlaps with just about everything, but still. This is news to me.

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On a slightly but not completely related note there is a quest style pony game that can be found at 'http://fim.413chan.net/art/res/52169.html' it's into its third thread and its a pretty interesting read, they just finished a hoof wrestling match with an Apple Jack expy using insult mechanics similar to Monkey Island.

There's actually a forum I go to for pony fans in my state that has a Pathfinder Pony RPG Group. I'm not a member, but that's only because they meet in a more southern part of the state than would be accessible for me on a daily basis.

Also I like the way you changed this up here, having Dashie smack them around. Makes for a refreshing difference from the shows events.

Just like everything pony related it seems to be growing exponentionally.

I think I saw a pony campaign being set up on DnDOG a week or so ago. Didn't want to try my hand at it though, as I still have no actual dnd experience beyond character creation (Dammit DM, give us some mechanics to work with and learn from ;_;).

Y'know, I'd have expected RD's player to be upset about them only being minions, since she wanted a FIGHT, and three minions alone doesn't make much of one... But she did get to hit something, finally, so I suppose I can understand her joy here.

Heh, I'm still giggling over the last page. "You sound hostile. Know what that means? =D"

I must admit, I seriously doubt RD's player would be frustrated that they were minions. She's the closest thing in the grou to a rol-plauer, and sst killed three enemies - an entire encounter - by herself, in one round, as an immediate response to riling the DM up by refusing to roleplay *in character*. She probably couldn't have asked for a better outcome!

Bah. Stupid typos - I don't think I'll try using the forums through my phone again as they don't allow me to proofread what I just typed >.< I should clarify that I meant to say that RD's player was the closest thing to a roll-player, hence this suiting her.

Anyone who's ever had a dog can relate to the last two pages, I think.

The last page is like when you're playing fetch with a dog, and you've got the favorite toy in hand. You make to throw it, and suddenly the dog is instantly braced, tail wagging furiously as they wait for you to throw it. that was RD in the last panel of the previous page.

This page is what happens after fetching the toy and running back with it.

I don't think Nightmare Moon is actually controlling the Shadowbolts directly in this game the way she did in canon. I think they're actual minions that she summoned or created. So their lack of self-control is unsurprising.

Three-panel cartoon somewhere on the web about "How I became a Brony":

First panel: Guy sitting in front of a monitor. "My Little Pony. Little girls' toy commercial. May as well take a look and see what all the hype's about."

Second Panel ("Five Episodes Later"): Same guy in front of same monitor. "WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME? WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME?"

Third Panel ("Twelve Episodes Later"): Same guy, now sitting in shock in front of same monitor, but no longer alone. Behind him, Nightmare Moon caresses him with her mane, whispering in his ear "Come to Ponyville. Join us. Join US!" While Fluttershy hovers in front of him, giving him The Stare. "Come to Ponyville. Join Us! Join Us!"

One could also infer her reaction in the previous page (telling everyone to shut up, basically, and not try to give her out-of-character advice) as her taking their 'RD's not the right one for this' remarks as a challenge.

There are also at least three pencil/paper/funny dice out or underway. One ("The Savage World of My Little Pony") uses the Savage Words ruleset, another ("Pony Tales") the West End D6 System OGL, and I've seen mockup pages of "Ponyfinder" using D20 Pathfinder. Though the last may be a hoax.

The Pathfinder Pony stats where in no way official (but produced to look official).

Legend (an intriguing RPG that starts with the d20 core and twists it) has official pony stats. They are balanced but powerful, and the other high-power, high-weirdness options of Legend mean that having a Pony in your party isn't really a big deal.
http://www.ruleofcool.com/donation-thresholds/ - click on "Super Secret Bonus Content!"

So, I've been listening to that leaked song "Smile, Smile, Smile." It's not so much that I liked it that makes me listen to it (although I enjoy it very much, don't get me wrong), it's just that towards the end, there's this soaring bridge (at least I think bridge is the right term) where she starts telling the entire town to smile, and it sounds strangely... parasitic. Her exact words, which are repeated, are:

It's fairly innocuous, but the tone and the fact that every pony in town is singing background for it makes it so less like a want and more like a demand. It sounds like she feeds on happiness. This gave me an incredible idea for a villain in D&D. He feeds on emotions, which is pretty standard fare, except he actually voluntarily makes every victim under his thrall happy even though he gets way more power from negative emotions, because that way they don't resist. Basically, all of his minions are going to have gigantic, creepy rictus grins, and since one of my players reads these comments, I'm going to keep how this villain is actually threatening to myself.

I hate minions. 1 HP creatures that can be reborn by the one controlling them? Though, I do play 3.5e opposed to 4e, but why can't they all just be lvl 1 or lvl 2 NPC Warriors instead of "All I have to do it hit you and you die"?

Ditto. To pretty much all of that, actually. It doesn't bother me if I'm up against a necromancer trying to buy time with a zergrush, but most other contexts' fluff doesn''t seem to fit minions' mechanic, and I am big on fluff/crunch agreement.
(Incidentally, should anyone be trawling the comments as I do, this is Colin Smith trying out an alias. We'll see if it sticks.)